The present invention relates to a crop converging arrangement for mower-conditioners, and more specifically relates to crop converging arrangement associated with a rotary cutter bar of a mower-conditioner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,330, granted Dec. 1, 1998, discloses a mower-conditioner equipped with a rotary cutter bar that includes a pair of converging drum at each of its opposite ends, with each pair of drums cooperating with a converging shield structure to converge cut crop to a narrower stream that is fed to the rear into a conditioning arrangement. This type of converging structure does not satisfactorily converge crop, especially when used with a longer cutter bar for cutting a wider swath of crop.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,064, granted Jul. 18, 1995, discloses a mower-conditioner equipped with a rotary cutter bar that is relatively long and includes a pair of driven converging drums arranged above the two outermost cutting units at each end of the cutter bar and used together with a driven converging element located between them. The pair of converging drums and intermediate converging element are all located in line with the centers of rotation of the cutting discs and in this position are found to cause the cut crop transported by them to the conditioner to interfere with the uncut crop so that it is bent over and is not cleanly cut off.
According to the present invention there is provided an improved crop converging arrangement for a mower-conditioner equipped with a rotary cutter bar.
An object of the invention is to provide a mower-conditioner having a rotary cutter bar with which a converging arrangement is associated that includes driven converging drum sets located at opposite end portions of the cutter bar, with each set being disposed generally along a line that diverges to the rear from the line of centers of the cutter disks towards the conditioner arrangement.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide a mower-conditioner, as set forth in the immediately preceding object, wherein each driven converging drum set includes at an outer and an inner drum, with the outer drum being located on the rotation axis of the outer cutter disc, and with the inner drum being located inward from the outer drum and towards the rear a distance which results in its outer periphery being to the rear of the line of centers of the cutter discs.
Another object of the invention is to provide a mower-conditioner, as set forth in the immediately preceding object, wherein each converging drum set includes at least an outer and two inner converging drums, with the inner two drums being driven by a drive shaft and gear arrangement that obtains its power from the drive that powers the crop conditioning arrangement.
Still a more specific object of the invention is to provide a mower-conditioner, as set forth in the immediately preceding object, wherein the middle drum of each set is located slightly to the rear of a line of centers connecting the outer and inner drums.
Another object of the invention is to provide sets of converging drums, as set forth in one or more objects above, wherein a stripper is provided for preventing recirculation of crop.
An alternative object of the invention is to provide a mower-conditioner, as set forth in the first object stated above, wherein the inner two converging drums of each set are respectively driven at a selected speed by hydraulic motors.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the ensuing description together with the appended drawings.